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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



VERSES 

By 
HENRY GOELET McVICKAR 



When the impenetrable 

Mantle of Mystery falls 

From the rounded shoulders 
of the Night, 

Behold, the Naked Day. 



New York 

PRIVATELY PRINTED 
1911 



Copyright 191 1 '^^^/^ 

Henry Goelet Mc Vickar 



KKrt 






Contents 



Jessica 


5 


Love Lit a Candle 


7 


Roses 


9 


Life 


II 


Until I Die 


13 


Answered 


15 


A Flash 


I? 


We Did Not Know 


19 


Good Bye 


21 


The Boy Lover 


^3 


Bridge Loneliness 


25 


Speaking of Bridge 


27 


A Type 


29 


Your Work Was My Work 


31 


A Woman's Thought 


33 


A Woman Less 


35 


Another Little Hope 


37 


The Sun Rises 


39 


The Earth and I 


41 


The Day and I 


43 


Stevenson's Requiem 


44 


The Man We Know 


45 


To Billie and Woodie 


47 


Unit 


49 


An Answer to Fate 


51 




JESSICA 

ESSICA! Jessica! Where, Oh where 
Did you find your eyes so blue?'' 
"God made them bright, 
God made them light 
That the angels might look through." 

"Jessica! Jessica! Who, Oh who 
Made your teeth like white coral shell? 
"Each little cherub gave me one 
As white as his wings — don t tell.'' 

"Jessica! Jessica! How, Oh how 
Did your cheeks get their pale pink blush?" 
**Love threw me two kisses and there they fell, 
ril answer no more — please hush." 

"But, Jessica! Jessica! Why, Oh why 
Was your heart made so tender and true?" 
"Just to make happy the one I love. 
And, Sweetheart, that one — is you." 

[ 5 ] 



LOVE LIT A CANDLE 

LOVE lit a candle by a palace gate. 

And light was everywhere; 
Love lit a candle by a hovel door, 

And God was there. 
So God and Love and Light 

Are three in one. 
Palace or hovel, sea or land, 

God, Love and Light, go hand in hand. 



[ 7 ] 



ROSES 

A WHITE bud for a baby's soul 

Who knows? Who knows? 

A moss bud for a maiden s soul 

Who knows? Who knows? 

But the Jacqueminot is a man's real blood 

Fit to fight fire, fit to fight flood 

To live for a woman, or to die for her good 
Who knows? God knows. 



[ 9 ] 



LIFE 

A LITTLE youth 
A little life 
A little love 
A buxom wife 

A babe or two 
A life all gray 
A smile, a tear 
And then Good Day. 



[ II ] 



UNTIL I DIE 

HOW often have you sworn "Until I die'' 
How often looked me fairly in the eye 
And whispered in a choking voice " Until I die.' 
The months are builded into years 
Dead laughter changed to living tears 
And now 'tis I alone who cry- 
Up to an unheeding Heaven 
The Truth — and not your lie 
"Until I die." 



[ 13] 



ANSWERED 

WHY are your eyes so blind — so blind 
That nothing you can see ? 

Because Fve seen the woman I love 
And blinded FU ever be. 

And why are you so sad — so sad ? 
Reach out and do and dare. 

I made graves of the eyes of the woman I love 
And my soul and my heart lie there. 

And rd rather lie dead in her restful eyes 
Than live in the heart of a rose, 

For the woman I love is forever on guard 
She has pity for me. She knows. 



[15] 



A FLASH 

A FLASH — and the light of my life shone bright, 

A moment and I was alone, 

And only the lamp my soul had lighted 

On the path that I trod, still shone. 

Far down on the bleak winds of destiny, 
The shrill winds that whistle and wail 
She heard the insistent cry of Duty, 
And I knew that my light would fail. 

For she goes forward her work to do 
And I to my plough stay true. 
As the only thing God never forgets 
Is the duty He's meted to you. 

So she walks onward and I plod too 
Along an ever diverging line, 
But the winds now whisper two little words, 
"She's mine, she's mine, she's mine!" 



[17] 



WE DID NOT KNOW 

NO one told us that love was all absorbing, 
She did not know, nor I myself. 
We did not know that love was all compelling. 
That to be loved was Life itself 

And so not knowing, or perchance forgetting 
That Life was not love — ^we did not know — 
With never a moment spent in regretting 
We made Life — love, and are glad it's so. 



[19] 



GOOD BYE 

ONLY two little words 

That mean so much — 

Spell them with stars across the sky 

Spell them in dreams as you sleeping lie 

Spell them, nor ask the reason why 

For your body has said good bye. 

Only two little words 

That mean the end — 

Spell them in sobs or even a sigh 

Spell them in tears that never will dry 

Spell them, nor ask the reason why 

For your heart has said good bye. 

Only two little words 

Far worse than death — 

Spell them in silence with never a cry 

Spell them swiftly before you die 

Spell them, nor ask the reason why 

For your soul has said good bye. 

[21] 



THE BOY LOVER 

WHAT a weak boy "lover is the Spring 
When he wakes from his long sleep and balmy rest, 
The naked blushing trees make haste to dress in green — 
The color of all colors he loves best. 

Each flower to another, nods in speech 

"Let every seedling in his honor bring 

The colors of the rainbow — shadings of the sky 

To the Glory of our best Beloved Spring.'' 

Just a moment seems to them, to pass away 
When he wearies of their colors and seeks rest, 
Both his eyes abla2;e with the brilliance of their rays — 
Close in slumber — and he tarries as their guest. 

When the summer comes he dreams the summer through 
His head upon that full and motherly breast 
Eyes waiting for the brown, that dark and restful brown 
That the dead — of all colors, love the best. 



[^3] 



m 



BRIDGE LONELINESS 

LONELINESS is a living death, 
And the man in the desert knows, 
And alone in a boat, the man at sea 
With never a breath that blows — 
May think they know what loneliness is — 
But not compared with me. 

For they tried to make me learn to play bridge 
But I wouldn't be driven nor led 
So now, tho' living, for all the world cares 
I might just as well — ^bedead. 



C^5] 



SPEAKING OF BRIDGE 

TO play by night when the stars are out 

And the waves are a cadence and love is about, 
Is to waste one's chances, is to play with Fate — 

That in some moment to come, will call "too late/' 
For the waves they knock on an answerless shore 

And the stars they cry, once more! once more! 
"Forget the game that needs a light — 

And out with me through the starlit night,'' 
But the Bridgeite knows that "a card is out" 

How does she know that love is about. 
What does she care for the rhythmiic tone 

Of the waves on the beach, or the stars out of reach? 
Or the man that waits, for her alone? 



[ ^7] 



A TYPE 

HER eyes were limpid, wooded lakes 

In the ha2;e of the afternoon's shade 

And her lashes were whips that thrashed the heart 

Of the man who was unafraid. 

Her brows were like the shading trees 
That lessen the desert's sheen. 
Her cheeks were dainty garden spots 
Where only roses had been. 

Her hair though fine and deftly spun 
Was like chains that prisoners bear — 
For once enmeshed, no freedom came 
To those who lingered there. 

Her mind was like the open space 
That stretches from sphere to sphere. 
One star of passion was all she saw 
Though millions were shining clear. 



[^9] 



Her body, her body was all she knew. 
In no God did she put her Trust 
And now her soul is a "Will o' the Wisp' 
And her body's gone back to the dust. 



YOUR WORK WAS MY WORK 

WHAT do you think when the world is dead 

And the great Judge sits in state 
Will be the verdid: of The Great Good God — 

In the palm of whose hand lies fate? 

Think you the soldier who murdered his kind 

At the beck of glory and pride 
Will be asked to arise and receive his reward 

And sit by his God, beside ? 

Or think you the woman who thought of self 
And to others no thought ever gave, 

Will be the one, The Great Good God 
Will stretch out His hand to save ? 

No! to one who has cared and given her strength 
"To those who were weak, of my fold, 

I will give of my love, my enduring love, 
Forever — to have and to hold.'' 



[31 ] 



To a nurse who gave her life to the ill — 

He '11 call, " Come apart, ye alone, 
Your work was my work, your love was my love. 

Your seat's at the foot of the Throne/' 



A WOMAN^S THOUGHT 

GRAY was the sea and gray the mist 
And gray were the birds on wing, 
And only gray thoughts of the Ocean's dead 
Did the wetted wind, to me bring. 

And the land's big forts of rock and stone 
That give check to the masterful sea 
Were gray and grand; and the fallen clouds 
Were gray mantles, enshrouding me. 

And I felt as I watched this world of gray, 
My life! for a rose at my breast. 
My soul needs colour, God is all gray — 
Ah! the love of a man is best. 



[33] 



A WOMAN LESS 

UNDER the moonbeam conquered sky, 
Red Stars pale in the moon s bright eye, 
Part a few flowers and let her lie 
A woman who 's worked her fill. 

There 's no message from God to her, 

Pity of God is slow to stir, 

One of millions that are and were 

A woman's ceased work, at God's mill. 



[35] 



ANOTHER LITTLE HOPE 

ANOTHER little hope has gone to sleep 

To sleep for ever and aye. 

Another little dream has waked itself 

And joined the dreams gone by. 

But for every little hope that dies its death 

And every little dream that's fled — 

Life gives you a thousand to take their place 

For the living replace their dead. 



[ 37] 



THE SUN RISES 

THE Sun rises and the Sun sets 
So I 'm told — 

The moon rises and the moon sets- 
Silver and gold. 

The stars shine clear 
The spring is near 
The earth 's gone mad 
Alone I 'm sad — 
IVe grown old. 



[39] 



THE EARTH AND I 

THE Sun dawns at its appointed time. 
The tide falls as God bows His head, 
The leaves wither when the winter comes, 
Changing from green to red. 

The dull rain changes to sullen snow, 
The gentle wind "is a common scold/' 
Waves that were playthings, are things to fear. 
Young was the earth — 'tis old. 

I too, was young in a day long dead. 
No thought of leaves, or rain, or snow. 
No fear of Sun or tides had I. 
I lived and loved — I know. 

Each year the green earth is born again, 
But one spring is given to me 
A glint of summer, a flash of red — 
Then winter s eternity. 



c [ 41 ] 



THE DAY AND I 

I 'D like to go to bed, or be dead, or be dead — 
I 'd like to go to bed and to sleep; 

The blistering fevered day 
Has its night to meet, alway 
The cool night that cometh from the deep. 
And I, why not I, with a little peace be blest — 
(Mother night gives birth to each new day) 
While I to the end, must forever — ever spend 
My life's blood, to gain a little rest. 



[43] 



STEVENSON^S REQUIEM 

UNDER the wide and starry sky 
Dig the grave and let me lie 
Glad did I live and gladly die 
And I laid me down with a will. 

This be the verse you grave for me: 
"Here he lies where he longed to be; 
Home is the sailor, home from the sea 
And the hunter home from the hill/' 



[44] 



THE MAN WE KNOW 

UNDER the gray and somber sky 
Dig the hole and let him lie; 
Sad did he live and sadly die, 
For he strived — with never a will. 

This be God's righteous, just decree; 
Here let him rot, who sought to be 
Nothing to others and naught to me- 
A sod returned to the hill. 



[45] 



TO BILLIE AND WOODIE 

ONLY two men from our army of men 
Have dropped from the ranks in the years — 
Only two men fail to answer their names 
At the roll call of the Sergeant of Tears — 

And one took with him a pride that was great 
And a wit, as harmless as bright — 
And the other a gentleness women might have 
And a heart that spelled pluck and was white. 

They Ve gone and we Ve left, so here 's to them both- 

We '11 drink to two of God's men 

We don t care if we leave a tear in the cup 

God rest them, God bless them. Amen. 



[47] 



UNIT 

ALONE stands "The God" in his Universe. 
No whining cry for help nor aid makes he 
Though Master of a million wilful worlds — 
Alone he drives through all eternity. 

And so are you, Oh! little naked soul 
Naught, but an unit on this crowded earth. 
Well loved you may be, but your burthen s yours 
To bear, aidless, from the first breath at birth. 



[49] 



AN ANSWER TO FATE 

SO many hurl anathemas at fate 

And wring their hearts in silence and despair, 

With trembling lips envy the favored few — 

When all the while, fate is but negligence. 

Blindness to opportunity that comes. 

Deaf to the open sesame of love 

Which to man or woman is God's best gift. 

Wake! Awake! Like cowards curse not your fate, 
But with courageously outstretched arms, grasp 
All you think fate so cruelly withholds. 
Then in the hollows of your hands look down 
And gaze at mastered fate — ^you in command — 
Soul, heart, body, a trinity of peace. 



[ 51 ] 



Fifty-four copies of Verses by Henry 
Goelet McVickar have been printed in 
June 191 1, by Frederic 6? Bertha Goudy 
at the Village Press, New York. 



I 



OCT 4 1911 



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